Barriers to green buildings at two Brazilian engineering schools

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Green and competitive: empirical evidence from ISO 9001 certified Brazilian companies

There are many arguments in the literature on environmental management stating that companies that have a significant environmental performance tend to be more competitive, because environmental management tends to generate positive effects on their operational performance. Despite the fact that such arguments are widely accepted, there is little empirical evidence yet of such a relationship in manufacturing contexts that are rarely studied thus far, such as those of developing countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – With the objective of testing the positive relationship between environmental performance and operational performance, this research presents the data of a survey conducted with 75 ISO 9001-certified Brazilian companies. Such data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Findings – The paper discovered that, indeed, environmental management relates in a positive, significant manner and large effect to the operational performance of companies.

The Impact of Green Supply Chain Practices on Supply Chain Performance

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become a critical factor to sustain organization’s competitive advantages. In this regard, many firms and researchers have attempted to find out factors that affect either positively or negatively on SCM. Recently, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has been receiving the spotlight in many studies. Social and political concerns about the environment in Korea emerged in the early 1990s when Korean government established new environmental regulations in order to implement environmental management throughout the entire supply chain. The Korean government established national GSCM strategies. However, there has been minimal research on measuring GSCM performance among Korean enterprises. It is critical to conduct the research on the relationship between GSCM practices and supply chain performance among Korean firms. In this research, the relationship among Korean enterprises will be empirically tested. The supply chain performance measurement system includes three dimensions: resource, output, and flexibility.

Environmental management in Brazil: is it a completely competitive priority?

Current studies indicate a need to integrate environmental management with manufacturing strategy, including topics like cross-functional integration, environmental impact, and waste reduction. Nevertheless, such studies are relatively rare, existing still a need for research in specific regional contexts. At the same time, the results found are not unanimous. Due to these gaps, the objective of this article is to analyze if environmental management can be considered a new competitive priority for manufacturing enterprises located in Brazil. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with Brazilian companies certified by ISO 14001. Sixty-five valid questionnaires were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The first conclusion is that environmental management presents a preventive approach in the sample analyzed, focused on eco-efficiency, what potentially do not to create a competitive advantage. This preventive approach inhibits environmental management from being regarded as a new competitive manufacturing priority, in the full sense as defined by the literature. Another important result is that environmental management, although following a preventive focus, may influence positively the four manufacturing priorities: cost, quality, flexibility and delivery. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physical-chemical and microbiological changes in Cerrado Soil under differing sugarcane harvest management systems

Background: Sugarcane cultivation plays an important role in Brazilian economy, and it is expanding fast, mainly due to the increasing demand for ethanol production. In order to understand the impact of sugarcane cultivation and management, we studied sugarcane under different management regimes (pre-harvest burn and mechanical, unburnt harvest, or green cane), next to a control treatment with native vegetation. The soil bacterial community structure (including an evaluation of the diversity of the ammonia oxidizing (amoA) and denitrifying (nirK) genes), greenhouse gas flow and several soil physicochemical properties were evaluated. Results: Our results indicate that sugarcane cultivation in this region resulted in changes in several soil properties. Moreover, such changes are reflected in the soil microbiota. No significant influence of soil management on greenhouse gas fluxes was found. However, we did find a relationship between the biological changes and the dynamics of soil nutrients. In particular, the burnt cane and green cane treatments had distinct modifications. There were significant differences in the structure of the total bacterial, the ammonia oxidizing and the denitrifying bacterial communities, being that these groups responded differently to the changes in the soil. A combination of physical and chemical factors was correlated to the changes in the structures of the total bacterial communities of the soil. The changes in the structures of the functional groups follow a different pattern than the physicochemical variables. The latter might indicate a strong influence of interactions among different bacterial groups in the N cycle, emphasizing the importance of biological factors in the structuring of these communities. Conclusion: Sugarcane land use significantly impacted the structure of total selected soil bacterial communities and ammonia oxidizing and denitrifier gene diversities in a Cerrado field site in Central Brazil. A high impact of land use was observed in soil under the common burnt cane management. The green cane soil also presented different profiles compared to the control soil, but to at a lesser degree.

Indocyanine green angiography findings in patients with long-standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease: a cross-sectional study

Background: To investigate indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) findings in patients with long-standing Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease and their correlation with disease activity on clinical examination as well as with systemic corticosteroid therapy. Methods: Twenty-eight patients (51 eyes) with long-standing (>= 6 months from disease onset) VKH disease whose treatment was tapered based only in clinical features were prospectively included at a single center in Brazil. All patients underwent standardized clinical evaluation, which included fundus photography, fluorescein angiography and ICGA. Clinical disease activity was determined based in the Standardization in Uveitis Nomenclature Working Group. Fisher exact test and logistic regression models were used for statistical analysis. Results: Disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 72.5% (31 of 51 eyes). Angiographic findings suggestive of (choroidal and/or retinal) disease activity were not observed on FA. Clinically active disease based on clinical evaluation was observed in 41.2% (21 of 51 eyes). In these 21 eyes, disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 76.2% (16 of 21 eyes); in the remaining eyes (without clinical active disease) disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 70.0% (21 of 30 eyes). In respect to systemic corticosteroid therapy, 10 patients (18 of 51 eyes) were under treatment with prednisone. In these 10 (18 of 51 eyes) patients, disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 83.3% (15 of 18 eyes); in the remaining patients (33 of 51 eyes) disease-related choroidal inflammation on ICGA was observed in 66.7% (22 of 33 eyes). Conclusion: ICGA findings suggestive of disease-related choroidal inflammation were observed in a considerable proportion of patients with long-standing VKH disease, independent of the inflammatory status of the disease on clinical examination or current use of systemic corticosteroid. Therefore, the current study reinforces the crucial role of ICGA to assist the management and treatment of patients with long-standing VKH disease.

Environmental management in ethanol and sugarcane plants in Brazil

There has been much discussion on the importance of Brazilian ethanol in promoting a more sustainable society. However, there is a lack of analysis of whether sugarcane plants/factories that produce this ethanol are environmentally suitable. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyse stages of environmental management at four Brazilian ethanol-producing plants, examining the management practices adopted and the factors behind this adoption. The results indicate that (1) only one of the four plants is in the environmentally proactive stage; (2) all plants are adopting operational and organisational environmental management practices; (3) all plants have problems in communicating environmental management practices; and (4) the plant with the most advanced environmental management makes intense use of communication practices and is strongly oriented towards a more environmentally aware international market. This paper is an attempt to explain the complex relationship between the evolution of environmental management, environmental practices and motivation using a framework. The implications for society, plant directors and scholars are described, as well as the study's limitations.

Temporal patterns of the seagrass "Cymodocea nodosa" and depth-related patterns of the green algae "Caulerpa prolifera" in the Canarian Archipelago

Máster Oficial en Gestión Costera

An Innovation System Perspective on Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability and Water Management in India

Government policies play a critical role in influencing market conditions, institutions and overall agricultural productivity. The thesis therefore looks into the history of agriculture development in India. Taking a political economy perspective, the historical account looks at significant institutional and technological innovations carried out in pre- independent and post independent India. It further focuses on the Green Revolution in Asia, as forty years after; the agricultural community still faces the task of addressing recurrent issue of food security amidst emerging challenges, such as climate change. It examines the Green Revolution that took place in India during the late 1960s and 70s in a historical perspective, identifying two factors of institutional change and political leadership. Climate change in agriculture development has become a major concern to farmers, researchers and policy makers alike. However, there is little knowledge on the farmers’ perception to climate change and to the extent they coincide with actual climatic data. Using a qualitative approach,it looks into the perceptions of the farmers in four villages in the states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. While exploring the adaptation strategies, the chapter looks into the dynamics of who can afford a particular technology and who cannot and what leads to a particular adaptation decision thus determining the adaptive capacity in water management. The final section looks into the devolution of authority for natural resource management to local user groups through the Water Users’ Associations as an important approach to overcome the long-standing challenges of centralized state bureaucracies in India. It addresses the knowledge gap of why some local user groups are able to overcome governance challenges such as elite capture, while others-that work under the design principles developed by Elinor Ostrom. It draws conclusions on how local leadership, can be promoted to facilitate participatory irrigation management.

Il modello green office come nicchia strategica per la transizione sostenibile del sistema universita the green office model as strategic niche for sustainability transition of hei systems

Nella prima parte di questo progetto di tesi, ho analizzato tutte le nozioni teoriche rilevanti in merito alla teoria della transizione. Il primo concetto condiviso in questa trattazione è quello di transizione. Nella parte finale del capitolo, il focus si sposta sul ruolo, in una generica transizione, delle nicchie. Lo strumento centrale in questa struttura sono gli esperimenti di transizione, i quali forniscono un approccio alternativo ai progetti di innovazione classica che sono incentrati nell'ottenimento di soluzioni a breve termine. Vi è dunque una forte relazione tra nicchia e sperimentazione. Infine la trattazione si concentra sul tema dello Strategic Niche Management. Nel secondo capitolo, analizzo il tema della sostenibilità inserita in un contesto universitario. Questa sezione si focalizza sulle strategie di alto livello richieste per dare avvio alla transizione universitaria verso la sostenibilità, identificando gli ostacoli e gli elementi portanti, e definendo una vision al fine di concretizzarla. Il capitolo guida, passo per passo, le università che tentano di mettere in pratica il proprio obiettivo e la vision di sviluppo sostenibile. Una delle problematiche principali per stimare gli sforzi verso la sostenibilità nelle università è costituita in modo particolare dagli strumenti di valutazione. Per questo motivo, è stata sviluppata la valutazione grafica della sostenibilità nell'università (GASU). Al fine di riassumere quanto detto fin qui ed avere un quadro generale più chiaro dell'organizzazione di un campus universitario che mira a diventare sostenibile, ho utilizzato lo strumento gestionale della SWOT Analysis. Negli ultimi due capitoli, infine, analizzo nel dettaglio il modello Green Office. La teorizzazione di questo modello e l'elaborazione dei 6 principi del Green Office sono state effettuate da rootAbility. Le seguenti pagine presentano 3 casi studio di come i 6 principi dei Green Office sono stati adattati alle 3 unità di sostenibilità guidate da studenti e supportate da staff qualificato. L'oggetto della trattazione sono i principali GO affermatisi nei Paesi Bassi. A seguito dell'introduzione del modello relativo al Green Office e dell'illustrazione degli esempi presi in esame, è stato sfruttato lo strumento della feasibility analysis al fine di giudicare se l'idea di business sia praticabile. Il mezzo con cui ho condotto l'analisi sotto riportata è un questionario relativo al modello di Green Office implementato, nel quale viene chiesto di valutare gli aspetti relativi alla organizational feasibility e alla financial feasibility. Infine nella sezione finale ho considerato i Green Office come fossero un unico movimento. L'analisi mira a considerare l'impatto globale del Green Office Movement nei sistemi universitari e come, a seguito del loro consolidarsi nella struttura accademica, possano divenire prassi comune. La struttura proposta contiene elementi sia da il SNM (Strategic Niche Management) che dal TE (Transition Experiment).

Runoff Water Quality and Pollutant Mass Loads From Extensive Green Roofs

Green roof mitigation of volume and peak flow-rate of stormwater runoff has been studied extensively. However, due to the common practice of green roof fertilization, there is the potential for introduction of nutrients into local bodies of water. Therefore, this study compares green roof runoff quality with the water quality of precipitation and runoff from a bare shingle roof. The runoff from a demonstration-scale extensive green roof was analyzed during the summer of 2011 for its effect on runoff volume and analyzed during eleven storm events in the fall and winter for concentrations of copper, cadmium, zinc, lead, nitrogen species, total nitrogen, total organic carbon, sulfate, orthophosphate, and other monovalent and divalent ions. The green roof reduced the overall volume of runoff and served as a sink for NO3 - and NH4 +. However, the green roof was also a source for the pollutants PO4 3-, SO4 2-, TOC, cations, and total nitrogen. Metals such as zinc and lead showed trends of higher mass loads in the bare roof runoff than in precipitation and green roof runoff, although results were not statistically significant. The green roof also showed trends, although also not statistically significant, of retaining cadmium and copper. With the green roof serving as a source of phosphorous species and a sink for nitrogen species, and appearing to a retain metals and total volume, the life cycle impact analysis shows minimum impacts from the green roof, when compared with precipitation and bare roof runoff, in all but fresh water eutrophication. Therefore, the best environments to install a green roof may be in coastal environments.

Hydrologic monitoring of an integrated low impact development (LID) underdrained stormwater management system

In 2005, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Inc. (WSSI) installed an extensive Low Impact Development (LID) stormwater management system on their new office site in Gainesville, Virginia. The 4-acre site is serviced by a network of LID components: permeable pavements (two proprietary and one gravel type), bioretention cell / rain garden, green roof, vegetated swale, rainwater harvesting and drip irrigation, and slow-release underground detention. The site consists of heavy clay soils, and the LID components are mostly integrated by a series of underdrain pipes. A comprehensive monitoring system has been designed and installed to measure hydrologic performance throughout the LID, underdrained network. The monitoring system measures flows into and out of each LID component independently while concurrently monitoring rainfall events. A sensitivity analysis and laboratory calibration has been performed on the flow measurement system. Field data has been evaluated to determine the hydrologic performance of the LID features. Finally, hydrologic models amenable to compact, underdrained LID sites have been reviewed and recommended for future modeling and design.

Green façades for urban comfort improvement. Implementation in a extreme Continental Mediterranean climate

Green façades constitute constructive technologies with a positive influence on sustainability in cities and several urban climate parameters such as thermal comfort, air quality and water management. According to the current research, the implementation of urban greenery contributes to increase the cooling effect and mitigate the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. This paper focuses on the role of vegetation in improving the urban environment of Madrid (Spain). The simulation results show that green walls could be more effective in urban morphologies with narrow streets. During overheated periods, the streets with green walls have a higher relative humidity in the surrounding areas than those with trees. The air temperature is found to be a little lower. The reduction of wind speed means a positive effect on urban hygrothermal comfort. Therefore, green walls could be taken into account as suitable tools to modify the outdoor thermal environment in cities with an extreme Continental Mediterranean climate.

Green Building along the Colorado Front Range

Conventional residential construction results in a variety of local, regional, and global environmental impacts. It also may lead to unhealthy interior environments for building inhabitants. Green building, on the contrary, is a practice that reduces the environmental impacts of residential development, that produces healthier indoor environments, and that yields better long-term financial investments. This Capstone Project applies empirical research and analysis to identify the history and benefits of green building, to support the hypothesis that Colorado Front Range communities benefit most from municipal green-build programs, and to make subsequent program recommendations. Ultimately, this project may assist communities with implementing their own municipal green-build programs.

Green Animal Shelter Design for the Stokes County Humane Society of North Carolina

The Stokes County Humane Society has the opportunity to implement sustainable design concepts and demonstrate long-term fiscal savings in the design of an animal shelter for Stokes County, North Carolina. The proposed renovated structure takes advantage of passive design strategies that convert a cold, steel structure into one with warmth, light, and functionality. Proposed design techniques include an interior courtyard, geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, a green roof, rainwater harvesting, sustainable landscaping, and clever materials selection. A cost analysis identifies capital costs and long term operational costs for both traditional and sustainable construction techniques. The results are capital costs of a sustainable design that are comparable to a traditional build, with long-term operational cost savings and generated revenue.